Tree-cycling; Boy Scouts offer Christmas tree pickup service

With the presents unwrapped and the fireworks lit off, one chore remains: Eureka, it's time to take down those Christmas trees.

Thankfully, that's one job Boy Scout Troop 129 is more than happy to assist with.

For the past 7 years, the Eureka scouts have helped residents dispose of their used conifers; picking up and hauling the trees away to be turned into mulch at $5 a pop.

Standing outside Scoutmaster Brian Hansen's house in Cutten Saturday morning, waiting for a third trailer to arrive before beginning their first round of pickups, former Scoutmaster Mike Freitas said he started the service after hearing about a similar program in Redding.

"I couldn't believe how successful it was when we started," Freitas said. "That first year we collected nearly 500 trees."

Although the number of scouts in the troop has dropped over the years as boys have aged out -- down from about 20 to six-- Freitas said that hasn't stopped the pickup service from expanding. Freitas said Arcata Cub Scout Pack 95 now helps collect trees in the Arcata and McKinleyville area. Freitas said the post-Christmas pickup, which nets anywhere from 300-500 trees per year, is one of the troops most successful fundraisers. The troop has also started

selling Christmas trees prior to the holidays, he said.

Hansen said not only does the money help fund troop trips to locations like Alcatraz, the Oregon Caves and the Shasta Caverns, it also takes the burden off of the scouts' parents to pay for campouts and other big events.

"It's made a huge difference in the types of things we can expose these kids to," he said. "It's really been a fantastic thing for us."

It's also a fantastic thing for residents, too, Ted Nelson said. A Eureka native, Nelson said he has been using the Christmas tree pickup service since it began.

"There are several reasons I do it," he said. "Not least of all because of the price of gas and the labor it takes to do it myself. It's also a real good thing to be able to help out the scouts."

Although the Arcata scouts have finished their Christmas tree pickup rounds for this year, Freitas said the Eureka scouts will still be available to collect trees Saturday.

As he examines a map of color-coded dots signifying pickup locations on his smartphone, Hansen said advancing technology has made the troop's job easier over the years.

"It used to be my wife would sit at home and wait by the phone for someone to call with a pickup location," he said. "But now with Facebook and cellphones, it's gotten a whole lot easier."

As the third truck arrives, and the group splits up to begin their routes, the troop's newest member, Austin Chavera, pipes up. Hands buried deep inside his sweatshirt pocket against the cold morning air, the 11-year-old said he doesn't mind giving up his Saturday morning to help out.

"This is stuff I would never get to do if I wasn't a boy scout," he said. "I like driving around and helping out the community. Plus, this isn't work-- it's fun."

If you still have a Christmas tree you need to get rid of, Eureka Boy Scout Troop 129 will conduct a second pickup round Saturday. Donations of $5 per tree are requested. For more information, call Scoutmaster Brian Hansen at 616-7724.